Rising Stars
by divastar19
Summary: Join Michelle McCool, Maria and Eve as they attempt to rise to the top of Smackdown and the WWE. McCool/Kennedy, Maria/Jeff, includes most people on SD.
1. Golden Dreams

Disclaimer: Everything within this story belong to WWE. I am not making any profit from this story.

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Michelle McCool groaned in pain as she was hit by the boot of Victoria whilst attempting to enter the ring. She fell down to the floor and watched as Kelly Kelly came flying down and landed next to her as she was rising to her hands and knees.

In the ring, Victoria was climbing the turnbuckle, attempting to reach the blue star hanging on the pole above the ring. Like a shot, Michelle slid into the ring and ran up to Victoria, clubbing her forearm into the veteran's lower back. Experiencing shock at the blow, Victoria turned on the turnbuckles and sat on the top as Michelle began to climb and reach for the star. Victoria grabbed onto Michelle's leg and pulled her down, hoping to get rid of her. However, Michelle landed with a _slap_ onto Victoria's lap, sitting on the veteran.

The two wasted no time in throwing punches at one another, slugging it out. Both were distracted enough not to notice Kelly jumping onto the apron. The Exposé star pushed the already cautious condition and the two divas toppled down onto the hard mats on the outside of the ring again.

Michelle waited until Maryse was reaching for the star to climb up onto the ring apron and give a stiff kick to the midsection of the Canadian diva. Again wasting no time, she climbed the turnbuckles from the outside, transferring herself to the inside of the corner and grabbed for the star, barely pulling it down as all the divas stormed the ring. A huge smile spread over McCool's face at the sound of various divas having hissy fits at her victory over them all.

_You're not enough for me, mmm, oh no._

_Just another man in love with me, just another man, oooh._

She hopped down from the turnbuckles and rose her star, displaying her victory and prize: a shot at the brand new Diva's Championship. Michelle looked to where the championship was on display in front of the announcers table and noticed Natalya running her mouth, threatening her.

Simply smiling, Michelle rose the star into the air again and used her free hand to point to Natalya, infuriating the other diva into silence. She climbed another turnbuckle, showing off the star again. Wanting to see the new belt close up for the first time, the belt she would hopefully be wearing around her waist soon, Michelle rolled out of the ring and approached it, the smile not fading from her lips.

She raised the star up into the air again, shooting a grin at Natalya, who in turn decided to walk away and up the ramp. Michelle stayed behind for a while, slapping hands with some of the fans at ringside and showing off her star some more before returning up the ramp, slapping fans hands all the way.

Michelle returned to the Gorilla section sweaty, tired and yet the best she'd ever felt. Immediately, arms were thrown around her and squealing filled the area as best friend Eve Torres placed Michelle in an incredibly tight bear hug.

"Oh my gosh! Congrats Chelly! That match was.. awesome!"

The smile plastered on Michelle's face only widened at the remark, she had yet to watch it of course, but it did seem like it went swimmingly. Continuing to be smothered by the friend hanging off her neck, Michelle finally managed to pull herself away and breathed a quick 'thank you', for both the compliment and the release.

Other divas in the match passed her, most patting her on the back and congratulating her. Out of the corner of her eye, Michelle noticed Maria Kanellis sitting on a chair, Umaga beside her, both talking animatedly to one another. Michelle breathed in a sigh of relief. It was final now, _she _was going to be challenging for the new Diva's Championship (which she thought was rather pretty and would look very good around her own waist if creative planned to lead it that way.) When she had heard of Maria's draft to Smackdown!, Michelle had been adamant that the Smackdown! creative team would give the push to Maria. Hell, everyone did until it was announced Michelle was to win the match tonight and Maria was to be nowhere within sight.

Michelle glanced to Eve, who was busy chatting to Kelly about where she had her in-ring attire made. Eve was to be making her in-ring debut on Smackdown if all went well soon, so she was asking just about everyone until she would find the best stylist for her own personal tastes. _She won't miss ya, go over and say hi. _Weaving her way through a mass of oily wrestlers and backstage workers, Michelle made her way to Maria. Neither Maria or Umaga noticed her presence for a while, but soon Umaga was staring up at Michelle, an eyebrow raised. Maria soon followed suit and looked up to the tall diva.

"Hi Maria," Michelle said in her kindest voice possible, "I thought I'd come and welcome you to Smackdown! I would have done it sooner, but I was busy getting pumped up for my match tonight. You know how it is." She smiled warmly and turned to look at Umaga, "Eddie, right? I'm Michelle," she offered her hand towards the super-heavyweight, "pleased to meet you."

Umaga took her hand and shook it, returning the smile. "Great to meet you too, Michelle. Hey, I better go get ready. Got a match tonight, I'll catch ya later 'Ria. Bye Michelle."

He stood up and walked away quickly following the sign that read 'Locker Rooms'. Michelle stood there in slight surprise as she watched him leave, given his ruthless on-screen character which, admittedly, she enjoyed watching, it was a rather strange contrast to see him talking normally.

Suddenly from below Michelle, Maria decided it was time to speak. "I hate it here already. I hate Smackdown! and everyone on it. No offense."

With a whimsical smile on her face, Michelle sat down on the chair next to Maria's own and wrapped her arm around the other diva. She placed her sparkly blue star on the ground and was surprised to notice Maria was actually crying.

"It's not so bad here. Not as fun as being on RAW with it being live 'n' all I guess, but we're all nice here, I promise," Michelle smiled and continued to hold the other diva, not full-out hugging her as she was still pretty damn sweaty and didn't think Maria would appreciate it too much.

"I know that, but it's like I'm not good enough a wrestler for RAW anymore so they put me on here.. for frickin' Layla of all people!" Maria bawled.

"At least Layla isn't a whiny little bitch," a deep voice said nearby. Both seated divas turned to see Natalya giving a high five to Victoria after her burn. "I wouldn't be so upset if I were you, Maria. Layla can actually take a bump. You couldn't wrestle yourself out of a paper bag. At least on Smackdown! when you mess up, which, let's face it, you definitely will, they can just edit those parts out."

Michelle stood up immediately and pointed her finger to Natalya. "Hey! You leave her alone, just bec-"

"Shut up, Michelle," Natalya pressed her hand into McCool's face. "Everyone knows that Smackdown! is for all the reject divas who can't wrestle. Maria and yourself are obviously at home here."

With that, she high fived Victoria again and the duo began cackling. Michelle smirked and crossed her arms, shaking her head at Nattie's slip-up in her 'burn'.

"If that's right, then why are you on Smackdown!, Natalie?"

Both Maria and Michelle laughed at the sight of Natalya's face falling. The veteran divas grumbled responses before Natalya fired a comeback.

"Because we don't sleep our ways to the top, Michelle. Remember Mark, Michelle?" Natalya laughed, and everyone else within earshot also laughed, but not for the same reasons as Natalya. Unknown to her, everyone was laughing _at _her instead of _with _her.

"I wouldn't have thought you were the kind to read internet rumors, let alone actually _believe _them," Michelle responded, almost tearing up through laughter. "Wow."

Natalya continued laughing for a few more moments before grunting and stalking off, with her gremlin Victoria in tail.

Out of the corner of her eye, Michelle noticed Eve walking towards her. Before her best friend could reach her though, Maria was by her side and frowning.

"She is a total bitch." Michelle nodded in response and smiled. "But I guess Smackdown! won't be so bad as long as I have you to keep me company."

Before she could respond, her arm was practically ripped out of it's socket as Eve began dragging her away from her spot. As a reflex, Michelle grabbed onto Maria's arm and dragged the diva along with her also.

"Where are you taking us?" Michelle asked as Eve continued to dislocate her arm.

"Locker room. Party. Everyone. Club. Good times!" Eve managed to pant out. Michelle broke free from Eve and looked towards Maria, she noticed a broad smile on the playmate's face and realized she would _have_ to go to the club with them.

"Fine, fine. Let me get a drink of water first and I'll come get changed with you."

Eve sighed angrily at the thought of having to wait around, but nodded and gave in anyway. Michelle walked away towards the refreshment table, which was where it usually was with the backstage layouts the staff implemented on the shows.

A big man wearing all white PVC with bleached blond hair was standing with his back to her as she approached the table. She grabbed a bottle of water off the table and said hi to the guy without bothering to check who it was, then walked away to join the giggling Eve and Maria.

Ken Kennedy watched her leave the table, his eyes practically glued to Michelle McCool's ass as he took a sip of his own water.

--

Notes: I know this chappie is pretty blah, but that's mostly because I _hate _setting a story up. Grr-ness.


	2. Nice Day for a Wedding

_Oo-oh-oh, I can tell you're feelin' me,_

_The way you're lookin' at me._

The theme song of ex-WWE diva Kristal Marshall rang out through the arena hosting tonight's edition of Smackdown, where the voluptuous Vickie Guerrero was holding her wedding reception. All the lights were flashing pink, as the Smackdown divas started to make their way to ringside for a special announcement to be made by Vickie. Natalya, Victoria and Maryse went out first, Victoria and Nattie holding hands and laughing together, enjoying the show together.

First out, dressed in a dazzling deep blue baby doll dress which cut off mid-thigh was the beautiful blond bombshell, Michelle McCool. Holding her hand and next out was Eve, dressed in a simple yet elegant knee-length ivory dress which flowed around her knees. Following them was Cherry, dressed in black but making use of her signature polka dots as part of her neck strap.

Michelle could feel Eve shaking a little bit, they had talked about it before coming out; Eve was nervous as hell, as she was not accustomed to being in front of a live audience, at least not this big. She smiled comfortingly towards her friend, who threw a grateful smile back at her. Cherry took Eve's hand for comfort as Michelle broke free to wave to the fans and, of course, slap hands with some of the many who were reaching out for her.

Soon all the divas were at the bottom of the ramp, gazing up into the ring at Vickie Guerrero, looking beautiful in a wedding dress, a huge smile adorning her face. Michelle was conscious, as she slapped a few more hands, of Natalya and Victoria making snide remarks about her behind her back.

Vickie's voice rang out through the arena, barely audible over the booing that erupted as soon as her mouth opened. "As everybody knows, it is wedding tradition-" the booing was immense and Vickie cleared her throat before carrying on. "**EXCUSE ME! **This is my day!"

In the ring, Vickie looked helplessly on to her 'new husband' Edge. On the outside, Natalya shoved into Michelle and began laughing. Again, Michelle did nothing, she just looked on into the crowd, ignoring Natalya and putting a broad smile where her frown should have been.

"I have something to say," Vickie continued, bringing more heat to herself by the second. "As everybody knows, it is wedding tradition," the fans kept assaulting her and Vickie seemed on the verge of tears. "It is wedding tradition," the boos intensified tenfold once more. "How _rude_!"

Outside the ring, Natalya pushed Michelle and shouted some profanities. Eve stepped in between Michelle and Natalya and gripped onto Michelle's hand, reciprocating the comfort her friend had given her earlier. In the ring, Vickie soldiered on despite the intense hatred radiating from the fans towards her.

"It is wedding tradition to gather all the eligible bachelorettes and see who can catch the wedding bouquet!"

Natalya poked her head around Eve and smiled obnoxiously at Michelle and asked, "How's your back, bitch?" Referencing her unscripted attack from the previous week after a tag team match was her big mistake.

Michelle flipped and broke free from Eve, just as the cameras turned to the divas awaiting the bouquet toss. Throwing her body weight onto Natalya, Michelle ended up on the ground on top of her Great American Bash foe and began pummeling her fists into the third generation diva's face, who quickly covered herself up from the attack. Victoria stopped bouncing around in excitement and watched on in horror as the all-American girl attempted to rip her best friend apart.

"Excuse me, Michelle," Vickie's voice rang out again, "stop trying to ruin my day!" Whatever else was said, Michelle did not catch over the PA system. However, she soon felt two pairs of strong, muscular arms wrap around her waist and wrench her apart from Natalya. She flailed and tried to protest, but soon gave in and allowed Hawkins and Ryder to escort her into the backstage area whilst Vickie and Natalya had their wicked ways with the innocent Cherry.

Michelle was dreading going backstage, though, and took her precious time being thrown out of the ring area. She had just strayed away from the loose script the writers drew up for tonight; she had been _supposed _to wait until after Vickie had won her match against Cherry to take Natalya out and hype up for the PPV, but Natalya's taunting had been far too real for Michelle to hold herself back.

Still, it was all explainable and the most she would get was probably a warning, as Natalya had received the week previously.

. & . & . & .

A few hours later, an exhausted Michelle McCool slumped down into a chair in the Sunset Lounge in Charlotte and threw her head back. She tossed her small purse onto the table and discreetly kicked her stilettos off under the table to ease her aching feet. She had been dancing with Maria, Eve and a few random guys (as well as some male superstar friends) for almost two non-stop hours and the support, or lack thereof, in her shoes had forced her to seek rest.

Thirst attacked her throat, making it sore and dry, but she ignored it in favor of regaining some human feeling in her feet, which only seemed to be getting worse now she had sat down. Idly, she scanned the dance floor and smiled when she saw Eve and Maria dancing close together, giving the boys around them something to stare at as their glistening bodies ground into one another.

Eve _loved _to go out on the town. If something good happened to anyone she knew or herself, she went out and celebrated. If anything bad happened, she got over it by partying. If nothing happened, she went out anyway and _made _something happen. Michelle hadn't been used to it when she had first started her friendship with Eve, so she had declined her every time until she just felt plain bad for always making Eve give her the puppy dog eyes. Eventually, she had caved in and went out at least once a week with her friend, almost always after a Smackdown taping and occasionally after a house show. Although, she found house shows to be much more grueling than the actual tapings, as matches were longer and much more physical. Going out and partying after a house show was opting for a slow and painful death, or so it felt.

It seemed that her new friend Maria also loved to party, and the two looked good together. For the past two weeks, Maria had joined them on their post-Smackdown celebrations and had also hit the towns, invading every shop they could find. Their last foray into the shopping districts had caused a small argument, as Michelle had refused to stop for a bite to eat and the girls had eventually lost their tempers and stormed off to a Subway leaving Michelle to roam the shops on her own, which wasn't nearly as fun as shopping with her friends.

It had all been forgotten a half hour later when Michelle had found them a darling little boutique to venture into. Michelle had tried to buy the whole store, which had a fantastic collection and her friends literally had to drag her out by her hair.

As she had suspected earlier, Michelle had received an official warning from the head of the Smackdown creative team, Michael Hayes himself. It didn't matter; she had her revenge on Natalya and hopefully they could now move on and at least be civil with one another. Yeah, right, like that'd happen.

She jumped in shock when she felt a tapping on her shoulder and snapped her head to look up. There he stood before her, dressed in a plain black shirt buttoned almost to the top, but flashing a good amount of his toned chest, light blue jeans which were faded and some dark leather loafers. His bleach blond hair was spiked up and he wore a stupid little smile and staggered ever-so-slightly on the spot, which suggested to Michelle he was a little tipsy.

"Hi Ken," she said loudly, over the blaring techno music blasting through the club. Without giving a response, Ken threw himself onto the chair next to her and nodded his greetings back. It was a little awkward having him seated next to her so abruptly, as if they were friends.

They had been, once upon a time when Ken was on Smackdown previously. When Michelle had broken up with her husband, Ken had been there for a shoulder to cry on, she had broken down one day and confessed everything to him, yet she hadn't told her actual friends. That had been the beginning of their friendship, but soon Ken was drafted over to RAW and their friendship just somehow ceased. She didn't hear from him and when they worked inter-brand shows, they barely even said 'hi' to one another. It was a shame really, because even though Ken was arrogant, obnoxious and a nasty person both on screen and off, there was also a sensitive kind side to him.

But Michelle didn't want to be his friend again. Despite her attempts to contact him when he was travelling with RAW, he had always blanked her and it had actually hurt, because he was one of the only people who cheered her up when she was experiencing her hard times. If they became friends again, who knows if he would remain loyal or practically stab her in he back again?

She peered across to the dance floor and saw Maria and Eve dancing with two men she didn't know and smiled. Her eyes crossed over to Ken and she noticed him staring at her, opening and shutting his mouth like a goldfish. Quickly, she reached under the table and put her shoes back on in record time.

"Michelle," Ken started, but instead of waiting to see what he had to say, Michelle just smiled and stood up. She walked over to the bar and continued with her night out with the girls, ignoring that Ken ever even existed.

**A/N: **I am _so _sorry for the really late update. Life sucks sometimes, but I should be updating frequently from now on. Thank you to all the wonderful people who've read, alerted and made this story one of their favorites. And of course to my lovely reviewers!

Jojocheer28: Thank you! I love Jeff/Maria pairings, too. We'll be seeing Jeff in the next chapter! :D

Mrs.Kennedy: I know! I've always thought they'd make a great couple, to look at, at least haha. I'm glad you liked the last chapter.

Stevens: I 3 you.

WWEAngel: Thanks. You have good taste if you like the same people I do, hehe.

Berrycharismatic: Here it is, sorry for the wait.

Babyhardyzgal13: Thank you.


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